Duke suffered a scare at the start of practice in October when point guard Greg Paulus injured his foot after an impact with fellow co-captain DeMarcus Nelson.

The injury was feared to be a broken foot but was after extensive analysis was determined to simply be an aggravation of a previous injury suffered in high school.

With no definitive timetable set for his return, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski sounded optimistic about Paulus' status Thursday and said the point guard would test his foot in workouts leading up to Sunday's game against Columbia.